Dr. Drew on Whitney and 'consequences'

By

HLN Staff

Updated 10:57 AM EST,

Mon February 11, 2013

Legendary pop singer Whitney Houston died Saturday night at the age of 48, according to her publicist Kristen Foster.

Houston was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m. PT at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, a police spokesman said, adding that there were "no obvious signs of criminal intent" and that the cause of her death is still being investigated.

“As with every time I have to get on television and have this conversation, it's a reminder that people that are in the public eye are human beings, and some of them have very serious conditions, and they can be the brunt of jokes at times, but the fact is these things are potentially deadly."

He added, “Obviously I'm taking great liberty in assuming or even suggesting that her substance history has something to do with what happened here. But if I'm a betting man, that's how it goes.”

In May 2011, Houston got help for her much-publicized struggle with drugs and alcohol, her representative said.

“These things do progress,” Dr. Drew noted. “They get worse as time goes along. As we get older, our bodies are less able to withstand the effects and the ravages. It's a chronic condition and if it’s something people aren’t dealing with on a daily basis, they are in harm’s way.”

He added, “As far as it pertains to people in the public eye, celebrities don't have the same consequences the rest of us do ... People are too enamored with being in their life or having people make money for them or employing them or whatever it might be. That's the special liability they have that pulls them out of the focus on their human condition and back to their work, which, they of course, love and we love, and we just have to remember these things are very, very dangerous."

Hear more from Dr. Drew weeknights at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on HLN and follow the show on Twitter @DrDrewHLN.

Programming Note: All this week, tune in to HLN’s Nancy Grace at 8 p.m. ET, live from Hollywood, for up-to-the-minute details surrounding Whitney Houston's death, followed by Dr. Drew at 9 p.m. ET with more on the singer's battles with addiction. HLN will begin live coverage at 9 a.m. ET Saturday for funeral events in New Jersey on “ Farewell to Whitney Houston.”